The Illuminations

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Hiroshima & Nagasaki

Beyond Genocide #9, completed 2008.

On August 6th and 9th, 1945, the atomic bombs “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” were released over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, by order of U.S. President Harry S. Truman. According to Japanese reporters: “practically all living things, human and animal, were literally seared to death…” in these blasts. The effects of radiation exposure on survivors and their descendents are estimated to have afflicted more than 400,000 people well into the 21st century and the suffering from the bombing has led Japan to seek the abolition of nuclear weapons from the world ever since. The symbolism of “Hiroshima and Nagasaki” recalls the fascinating descriptions of eye-witnesses to the bomb blast, remnants of destroyed structures and the power of re-birth after total annihilation.

True to the Japanese sense of aesthetic, this composition reflects the raw destructive power of a uranium bomb as well as the healing potential of the earth, through artistic expression.